1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to securing a fuser assembly in an electrophotographic imaging device, and particularly to a lock mechanism which locks the fuser assembly in the imaging device while being transparent to a user thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Within an electrophotographic (i.e., laser) printing device, a fuser assembly is employed to adhere or fuse toner particles to sheets of media via application of heat and pressure. The fuser assembly is disposed downstream of the image transfer station of the imaging device. The location of the fuser assembly relative to the media alignment and the image transfer station serves to mitigate twist, treeing, and print defects as the media passes through the fuser assembly. It is desired to locate the fuser assembly in a manner that is largely co-planar to the media sheet through a number of datum points. However, applying a holding force to the fuser assembly that is generally centered between the datum points is often difficult to achieve. This is mostly due to the need to attach the fuser assembly at locations outside of the width of the paper-path and away from the backup roll and belt of the fuser assembly. With the proper design, the fuser assembly can be located relatively accurately and precisely to the media sheet and image transfer station for normal operating conditions, but during a drop event, damage can occur due to the non-centered attachment scheme. A secondary mechanism is often utilized to eliminate damage that could occur if the imaging device is dropped during shipment.